LETTER: Levon Helm not worthy of honor

Please tell me that my esteemed state legislator, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, doesn't have something more important to do than introduce legislation that will rename state Route 375 between West Hurley and Woodstock, "The Levon Helm Memorial Highway".

With all due respect to Levon Helm and his band, and having known Levon, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel quite well when they first arrived in Woodstock back in the '60s, having spent many hours with them in Deanie's Restaurant on Mill Hill Road drinking "go-fasters" and other adult beverages, they were all great fun to be with in the early morning hours before closing time. Such a pity that Rick and Richard died so early in life.

I don't wish to denigrate the fame or name of Levon Helm and "The Band", but putting my personal friendship with them aside, wouldn't it have been wonderful if they had donated all the money that they stuffed into their noses to more appropriate venues? Does having an alternate drug-fueled lifestyle, interspersed with occasional bankruptcies, really qualify one to have a road named after him? To his credit, Levon later found time to use his talents for various local events, some charitable and some profit-driven, that served to somewhat rehabilitate his tarnished reputation, but I'm not convinced that honoring him by renaming a state highway after him is an appropriate exercise.

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As for naming Route 375 after Levon Helm, this has been the Woodstock-West Hurley Road since I came to Woodstock in 1941 and I'm rather partial to the name. Does it really need to be renamed for anyone? Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Butterfield and Tim Harden, all of them famous during the same time period, also lived in Woodstock at various times in the '60s and '70s. Should we perhaps consider naming some local roads in memory of them?

I fail to see Levon Helm's local fame as a reason for renaming this three-mile stretch of roadway in his honor. I have many friends, former Woodstockers, who have moved to Florida, Virginia, California and other states. When I told them of Levon's death, very few had even heard of him or his band. It's not that Levon's fame didn't exist, but isn't it reasonable to consider that his fame was mostly dependent on upon whether you lived during "the Woodstock Generation"?